1 John 4:1-6

Test every spirit (and I might add test everything!) seems like a fair request both then and now.  We want to follow the truth – we need to follow the truth.  One surefire way to know that a spirit is trustworthy is that they confirm that Jesus Christ came in the flesh.  Wow, this might eliminate a whole slew of pastors and perhaps entire churches today.  John, pulling from what he was saying earlier in this book, says that since he was there and knew Jesus and saw Him, that we must trust those coming with the same message.  Interesting and important for us to note.  Follow those who believe Jesus was real.  As I have said before, this would be assumed by many hopefully (as the word, “Christian” does have “Christ” in it) but this is not the case.  Be careful, test things and trust those who stand by Jesus the Christ and not some other counterfeit deity.  He will always overcome!

1 John 3:11-24

There is a tremendous truth in Scripture that you have to see to believe – and you have to live it to really understand it.  This truth is the “inflow-overflow” principle.  Bill Allison from Cadre Ministries recently taught it to a group of us youth pastors and it was very helpful.  The idea is that as we spend time in relationship with God and soak in who He is (inflow) that we can’t help but give out of Him from the tremendous love He has (overflow).  We act like Christians, honestly, not because of obligation or rules but because we were first loved.  Do you see this principle being acted and lived out in this passage by John?  I think we all miss this – and it is a shame!  We must not merely do things for the sake of doing them, but we must spend time with our loving Heavenly Father and as we get to know Him, we just are what we are to be.  Many of us don’t like prayer for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that it feels like an obligation – but it is meant to be from the overflow of what God is already doing in us.  We are not strong people – we are not meant to be strong emotionally, physically, mentally or spiritually – at least not how our society sees it!  So many shows, books, counselors, etc. today will talk about personal strength and empowerment.  This is simply not true.  We are not meant to be strong in ourselves.  The Bible is full of people who mess up because they are strong in themselves.  The ones who succeed in the Bible – the ones who are the “heroes of the faith” die to themselves and let God have control.  It is in this surrender that strength is found.  It is in this surrender that we are filled (inflow) and have the strength to overcome all this life has to throw at us (overflow).

1 John 3:1-10

What does knowing Christ compel you to do?  The disciples started a journey with Jesus by His calling them, “Come, follow me,” He said and they did.  They began as a bickering petty group of men who thought He was going to bring a new kingdom – many of them thought He would make them His officials in this new kingdom.  They marveled at His words and miracles.  They wanted Him to do more.  Yet the whole time, as they got to know Him, they were changing and didn’t even realize it.  They declared He was the Christ.  They began to carry out miracles in His name.  They shared the message of Jesus, baptized others and began to change inside.  After His death and resurrection, they hid and waited (He sort of told them to do this).  The Counselor (Holy Spirit) came and they were never the same – preaching, healing, changing cities and people around them.  Where did all of this come from?  Well, here we see a little of where this came from – they knew Him and that changed them.

Does knowing Jesus change you?  Does following Him impact those around you in a positive way?  Does it compel you to stop sinning?  Does His glory make you pause and live differently?  Perhaps if not, you need to really get to know Him.  I would start by going back and reading Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.  Get to know Him, the living Word and good news.  Then let’s see if we change.  After all, He is the Way, the Truth and the Life.  Oh, and no one comes to the Father but by Him.  Perhaps we should know how to get there and be changed in the process.

1 John 2:28-29

Yes, many of us moan and groan about how hard it is to live the Christian life, don’t we?  We often feel like failures and sometimes even avoid church so that we don’t feel judged (even if no one in church is judging us!).  Yet, the only conviction we are meant to feel is that from the Holy Spirit – and all He wants is for us to obey what He lays on our hearts.  We are to have a relationship with God – and then live in the overflow of that relationship.  God fills us up with life and holiness so that we may spread that truth and pass the message on!  Why must we do this?  This passage tells us – because He is coming again.  We would hate to be running away from Him as He comes in power, wouldn’t we?  He is returning, one day, and our goal for living correctly and for following Him is to be near Him when He returns.  I could spend some time here riffing about how “the sheep will know” his voice and that we need to live rightly because then that will help us know the real Him when He returns.  Secondly, John tells us again that he who lives correctly (righteously) is of Him because He is righteousness.  I think this is very cool – hopefully you do too!

1 John 2:18-27

Just a quick thought on the holiday weekend, “How is your faith shown to be true and not counterfeit?

1 John 2:15-17

First of all, Happy Thanksgiving!  What are you thankful for?  Spend some time just focusing on your reasons for thankfulness before you begin to study this morning.

“This world has nothing for me… I will follow you.”  I was listening to a worship CD for the first time and a new song came on that I had never heard.  It was by Desperation Band and the song is called “Rescue.”  The tag was moving and was causing me to tear up a bit as I learned it, then I found myself singing it loudly with the band (even though they were on a CD).  I was in my car, so it was okay that I was doing this – and I was alone!  However, the words were moving and caused me to sing them to God in an act of worship.  Has this ever happened to you?  I think this happens a lot and many of us sing something that we hear.  Unfortunately, I have sung lyrics too many times and not meant what I said at all.  Have you ever done this?  “I Surrender All” has been uttered by these lips while my heart certainly was not about to surrender some of the bad thoughts I was having.  “Hungry” was harmonized by me and made to be beautiful while I desperately wanted to leave the room I was in – and avoid God, all while saying I couldn’t get enough of Him.  I think this happens to us all.

John, here in this passage, calls us to hate the world and love the Father.  As Desperation Band calls us to believe that this world is empty compared to following God, this passage seems to be their inspiration.  God is everything, or at least should be – yet we dabble with this religion thing and enjoy all the pleasures of this planet all the while.  What are your biggest struggles that you deal with?  We all have them, but  often our struggles are because we put this world first.  Sometimes its money, sometimes its fame or popularity that we struggle with.  Other times it might be a need for a relationship.  Still other times it is just that we don’t want to follow God because that seems lame.  I know you have been there, or might even be there right now.  I have many times – and it has left me empty.  Even with all the good things in my life (Heidi, the girls, our house, the stuff we have – Finn) I know now that God is the best thing for me.  Even if everything in this life faded away (like Job’s situation), I know that I will carry on and that God will still and still should be praised by me.  This world truly has nothing for me – I am but a sojourner and a tenant on this earth in what He has provided.  Join me there.

1 John 2:1-14

There is a tremendous truth found in verse 6.  In case you missed it, here is the verse again, “Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.”  Wow – as I mentioned yesterday, salvation leads to life-change.  How could it not?  Jesus died and rose again that we might have life eternal and he LIVED that we might learn to live rightly.

We are meant to walk with God (like Enoch – Gen. 5:24) and therefore we must follow Jesus’ example.  How can someone call themselves a Christian and not actually act like Jesus?  John’s point is that they can’t (btw – the name “Christian” means “little Christ”).  He thinks that because we are forgiven, we are now free to NOT sin!  What a thought and a refreshing way to look at this life!  What do you think?  What can we pray for you about?

1 John 1:5-10

I so often hear things from you guys about “I thought grace was free,” etc, etc, etc.  Grace is free, no questions ask – but it costs us everything!  Let’s think really quickly through what salvation is – it is an acceptance of wrong-doing (sin), a need for hope (salvation), an acceptance of a gift (sacrifice) and an acknowledgment that you will not be the same (due to freedom).  You were once prone to do bad, but now you are eager to do good – our freedom should free us from darkness and make us yearn for the light.  It is this yearning for the light that many of us miss out on.  We think it is a gift that will not affect us going forward, but how can you – in saying that you are sinful – not desire to change?  Change is the next logical step in the process, so salvation is free but costs us everything.  Or look at it this way – I woke up this morning and looked in the mirror.  I was disturbed by the matter of my hair, face, etc. in the morning.  I am a wreck.  Upon accepting this fact, I would like to take a shower and start the day off freshly.  Therefore my acknowledgment of my condition will lead me to further action.  You do this all the time (friends are mad – you make amends, parents need help – you get up and help) without even thinking often.  However, when it comes to our faith world (the most important part of our lives and world) we want a free ride now.  We have cheapened salvation.

John is point this out by saying that we must walk in the light.  If you claim to have fellowship with God, you must walk out of the dark and into the light – you can’t be the same!  If you don’t do this, you are deceiving yourself.  Sad, but true.  This changes our fellowship with Him and with each other (what was the greatest commandment again?) and the harmony we are all looking for is found.  So, what will it be?

John does not stop there, though.  He also points out that we must actually be in the light, but this does not mean trying to convince everyone we are without sin.  We are still messed up – as we will likely always be on this planet considering our condition.  However, we must confess and repent this sin and continue to walk in the light.  This is a practice I would love to see us adopt more so.  Imagine if we all confessed and moved forward openly to change and to have Him lead us to the truth!  Man, our lives would be different and our group would be amazing.  Let us yearn for this and then make it happen!

1 John 1:1-4

I know a lot of us have looked at Scripture and doubted it.  In some cases this may be the most logical choice – I mean who can believe at first glance some of the things that are written?  We have crazy visions and thoughts from some people who today would seem really crazy (John the Baptist and Ezekiel).  So obviously this sets us back a bit and makes it hard to totally understand what is happening and ultimately, it makes portions of Scripture unbelievable.  I could go into the whole “this wisdom is foolishness to everyone else” deal, but I won’t, not this morning.

I want you to see how huge this passage is for our theology of Jesus (Christology) and for our overall understanding of the Bible itself.  While some of it seems unbelievable (it isn’t, but you understand), this passage and much of the book of 1 John is hardly unbelievable.  In fact, there is little to nothing that will be hard to follow and understand in this book.  Why?  These first four verses are a big reason why – they were here for it.  They saw these events, they touched Jesus, they heard Him talk and listened.  They were there.  While some characters might be hard to follow or understand, John is not.  In fact, John is one of the more “historical” figures in the Bible.  We have things that prove his existence; we have people who were disciple by him directly writing things within 25 years of his death about him.  Some have proven that Jesus is a more historical figure than Julius Caesar (I can get into that somewhere else), then John is just as historical or more so.  Further, John’s historicity further proves Jesus and ultimately, the New Testament.  John is saying here that they were there and have seen it, heard it, touched it, experienced it and therefore it can be seen as reliable.  This book has survived the test of time (over 1900 years) so clearly this message resonated and helped others understand Jesus. 

Therefore, we can trust it and should.  Praise God for His word – now let’s see what else it says in the days ahead…